Microsoft: Apple Was Right About Tradeshows, We’re Pulling Out Of CES

As Apple once did at Macworld, Microsoft has headlned the CES keynote for years now, but when Steve Ballmer takes the stage in 2012, it’ll be for the last time… and the reasons sound very familiar.

Today, Microsoft announced:

We have decided that this coming January will be our last keynote presentation and booth at CES. We’ll continue to participate in CES as a great place to connect with partners and customers across the PC, phone and entertainment industries, but we won’t have a keynote or booth after this year because our product news milestones generally don’t align with the show’s January timing.

As we look at all of the new ways we tell our consumer stories – from product momentum disclosures, to exciting events like our Big Windows Phone, to a range of consumer connection points like Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft.com and our retail stores – it feels like the right time to make this transition.

Sound familiar? It should: Apple said something pretty much identical when it announced it was pulling out of Macworld back in 2008.

Apple is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers. The increasing popularity of Apple’s Retail Stores, which more than 3.5 million people visit every week, and the Apple.com website enable Apple to directly reach more than a hundred million customers around the world in innovative new ways.

Deals of the Day

N the apple victories just keep piling up for us apple fanboys to talk that smack

Tim Meesseman

I know this is The Cult of Mac and all, but there’s no need to spin this so it sounds like MS copied Apple. It’s like saying Ballmer is copying Cook because he breaths.

FriarNurgle

Pull out method doesn’t always work.

macgizmo

I think a tall glass of “Lighten Up” is needed here.

Alberto Hernandez

It does if you pull out right before you…

…wait what are we talking about?

taylerz

This makes Apple look like they innovated pulling out of trade shows. :-) Patent it!

RangyG

Another paraphrasing fail in the title brought to you by Brownlee

KW79J

It’s about time, its pointless them presenting in 2012 to be honest “Err yeah here is the latest news on Windows 7 mark 2 err 8, after 2 and a half years we’ve changed the start menu and we’ve added a new Metro interface so you wont immediately notice that you’ve just re-purchased Windows 7 for £90”! “Dont like it huh, oh, did we mention we released Kinect last year”?

prof_peabody

The near identical statements of the reason why they are each backing out are certainly enough justification for the statement and the title of the article.

prof_peabody

Sadly, Balmer will use probably the opportunity to announce his retirement from Microsoft.

If he stays until Windows 8 is released he will be leaving on a sour note. This way he will get good press for at least six to eight months.

Element Mobilman

Microsoft is copying Apple in other ways too.e.g. “We are trying to dumb-down our corporate products so idiots, erm, artistic people can enjoy them.”

Yap Yusuke

Stupid post,why do you have to always bitch microsoft every decision making by point out that they copy this and that? Copy Apple? To Make the post sound better? Well,i tell you what!! It sound hell lot like garbage! Apple is not god,just because microsoft do something similar to apple,doesn’t mean it copy !

SevanGrim

poor Brownlee. Always doing the bare minimum to make Microsoft look bad. couldnt write a couple paragraphs ? was it tough to copy and paste those quotes? If Microsoft wanted to copy Apple, they would have done it sooner. How about this?:

Trade shows are kinda bad for business. You show people a mock up your product that is nowhere near done, and then you have to live up to what you showed, and if you dont people boo you. Everyone does it, but it sucks for the computer industry because people arent locked into buying their product if they dont like it like with the video game industry. Apple was smart to pull out, but Microsoft isnt copying them now. The economy sucks, and it is much easier to not show people your product until a month before it comes out than it is to try to hit your deadline.

tip: good journalist at least TRY to show BOTH SIDES of a situation. If all of your articles are about what you perceive to be blatant Microsoft fails and Apple wins, people wont take you seriously becuase you are obviously not biased, and therfore your news can never be 100% about informing the reader. There will always be your little Windows bashing agenda.